Monday Lunch and onward (she has break until 3pm)

The air was crisp and had a bit of a bite to it, oh the days were definitely getting colder. Fall was quickly creeping up, and soon the grounds would be littered with fallen leaves and soon after that a heavy snow. Cassie loved the changing seasons, watching the natural progression of life. It was fascinating, it was gorgeous. It was how the world expressed itself, or so Cassie liked to think sometimes. She wanted to take a bit of time to enjoy the outdoors before it became too unbearably cold without several layers of clothing and magical heat. Normally she would have relished hiding away in the Great Hall with everyone else chattering in conversation. Cassie might have attempt to join in, or at the very least been caught up in active conversation. Though today she had decided to take a little alone time. Normally Cassie was not one to like being alone, but she didn't want to miss the time outside by seeking someone to drag along. She had dashed into the Great Hall at last bell and picked an assortment of food putting it into a baggy she had pulled from her backpack. Namely a selection of fruit.

Cassie then took her lunch and headed outside. She held onto the food, since the full baggy did not have a proper place in her backpack. She also feared fruit juices dripping out of the bag onto her things, how much of a sticky disaster would that be. Cassie popped a grape into her mouth as she pushed out the door and headed down towards the lake. Loneliness would kick in eventually but she would relish in the company of the outdoors. She had a bounce in her step and a slight sway to her hips. Cassie's mind was on the delightful sweet taste of the grape as it popped in her mouth. Though her thoughts quickly passed on to what she would do or accomplish outside. Though she had to surrender to the desire for another grape and did so. Her feet took her walking down near the lake, it was tad chilly near here. No matter. Cassie pulled her backpack from her shoulder and placed it on the ground. She did a small little spin to the song dancing about in her head before sitting down. Perhaps she would study? Though she preferred doing that with someone else, then again what didn't she prefer doing with company.

She only had a one hour break for lunch until she had to head to Transfiguration. Although Juni enjoyed socializing with her friends in the Great Hall, she also knew that the weather was not going to be nice for long; soon, it would be cold, icy, and all around unpleasant. The Ravenclaw knew that she needed to spend as much time appreciating the mild weather while she could. Juni had gathered some food into her bookbag, and walked out onto campus to get some fresh air while filling up her stomach. Her thick, curly hair was pulled back into a rather fluffy ponytail, and in the natural lighting her numerous freckles were even more visible than usual.

As she walked towards the lake, she saw a familiar figure sitting down with her backpack. The closer she got, the more she was able to pull out features—beautiful, flawless, dark skin, incredibly curly hair—no doubt about it, it was Cassie Flickwick. Despite the fact the girl was two years Juni’s senior and in a different house, Juni still enjoyed being around her. Cassie was a kind enough person, and the fourth year looked up to her in many ways. Although Juni admired intelligence, she also admired kindness and generosity, two traits that were not uncommon among those in Hufflepuff.

When she reached Cassie, she gave her a small smile. “Do you mind if I sit with you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side in an inquiring manner. Now now, Juni didn’t want to be rude. If Cassie wanted to have some alone time, she would give her some alone time without taking it personally.

Cassie had just popped another piece of fruit in her mouth just as someone spoke, she was a little startled. Cassie was bad at that, very bad at being aware of her surroundings and acknowledging when someone was sneaking up on her. Okay, so maybe they weren't sneaking and just casually approaching but it always startled her. She wasn't good at listening for the footsteps or thinking about things beyond her little surroundings. She wasn't self-centered it was just more she narrowed in on her immediate surroundings and she tended to let her mind wander. That was the case here. Luckily she didn't choke on the fruit but she spluttered a bit.

Placing her hand over her mouth clearing whatever food was left as she nodded her head. Once she was sure she wouldn't be talking with food in her mouth she smiled, "Of course sit." Juni, that was her name she was sure of it. Even though she was two years younger and in a completely different house she knew who she was. They had talked on a few occasions, which meant she had registered her in her mind. She made a point of not forgetting names, faces, and the people she interacted with. Cassie was a people pleaser and just wanted people to like her, so the first step was remembering people. Cassie patted the spot next to her. "Did you want a grape?" She asked offering over her baggy, though there was other things than just grapes.

"So, what brought you out here?" Cassie asked sweetly before taking a grape and popping it in her mouth. She figured if Juni had stopped by to ask to sit with her she wanted to talk so she was big on getting the ball rolling. Cassie was particularly good at small talk.

“Did I scare you?” Juni asked, “Sorry.” She didn’t intend to startle Cassie. She sat down next to the Hufflepuff and nodded, accepting a grape. She pulled a few rolls out of her bag and offered them to the older girl. “Do you want some bread?” She asked. Bread and fruit. That sounded like quite the lovely lunch. She munched on a piece of bread and then took the occasional bite of a grape. At Cassie’s question, the Ravenclaw tilted her head to the side yet again.

“The weather’s going to be cold soon.” She commented, “I wanted to be able to appreciate it while I could, you know?” Juni absolutely detested cold weather. She was not looking forward to it, and would probably avoid going outside unless it was absolutely necessary. Snow was not her best friend. “Why are you out here?” Cassie was a bit social, so it was actually a little strange to see her out here alone.

"Only a little," Cassie said honestly and looked over at Juni with a sheepish smile. "I have this tendency to go off into my own little world and don't notice people approaching." Cassie shrugged her shoulders, at least she acknowledged the issue but she was making no leaps to change herself. What was a little startle now and then when she got the luxury of hiding away into your thoughts. Cassie looked at Juni and smiled a little more genuinely, "It is okay though no need to apologize." Cassie said with a sweet tone and a wave of her hand. She though perked up at the idea of some bread, she had not picked any up. "I had forgotten about the rolls," she said as her yes before taking one.

Cassie picked a piece of the roll and put it into her mouth. She listened to Juni as she spoke of the reasons why she had come outside today and boy they were pretty much the exact same as hers. Cassie beamed even as she ate and popped another piece of fruit into her mouth. "I know exactly what you mean Juni, I am out here for a very similar reason." Cassie nodded her head. "I love the change of the seasons and I really don't mind winter, but I wanted to bask in the nicer whether while it lasted." The winter months meant she had to bundle up and use magic to keep warm if she wanted to spend any amount of extended time outdoors. Sure it was a tad chilly now, but it was not unbearable and there were some warm days left still. "I was going to ask someone to come with me, but you know didn't want to miss it running around looking for someone to join me." Especially when a majority of people only had the hour for lunch and didn't have till 3pm like Cassie.

“I guess it’s a good thing that I’m here then. You don’t have to spend lunch alone, looking like some sort of sad recluse.” Juni let out a small giggle and brought her hand to her mouth to make sure Cassie didn’t get a lovely view of half-masticated food when she laughed. “How are classes going for you?” Juni loved all of her classes, and she spent a good deal of time studying for them every day. She hates the idea of failure in everything and anything she does. As a result, she took every precaution to make sure that she simply would not bomb any of her classes.

She went from her sitting position, to lying down on her stomach in the grass. She continued to eat, but was in a  much more relaxed position. She wished that they could be lazy and eat on the floor of the Great Hall sometimes. However, she doubted that the faculty would appreciate that.  “Do you have any relatives that go here?” She asked. Her only wizarding relatives were her paternal grandparents and her father. However, they lived in Portugal. There was little to no chance of any distant relative of her's attending Hogwarts.

"Oh Helga no, I wouldn't want that." Cassie said sort of eagerly, perhaps a little over eager. Sarcasm or not, the very thought of being some sort of sad anything in the eyes of another person was terrifying to Cassie. Lucky for Juni her internal distress of the whole sad recluse thing allowed her to completely disregard the possibility of seeing any partially chewed food. The only thing to pause the downward spiral of concern of sadness reflected on her person was the topic of classes. "Oh, they are going quite well." She pipped up the oh having been a little over embellished. Mainly she was just excited that Juni was continuing to speak with her. From time to time a peak in her tone would arrive due to such excitement, it just meant she was enjoying herself and pleased that the person on the other side of the conversation was still interested. "Getting a tad bogged down already being that it is NEWTs years but I am trying." Cassie was one that didn't find school easy, but she put in the effort to warrant average grades.

Cassie watched Juni switch her position and nodded her head in approval. She took another piece of the roll and popped it into her mouth. Perhaps she should have found away to transport some pumpkin juice or tea at least, she was feeling a small need for something to drink. Instead she went with a grape. "I assume classes are keeping you busy?" Cassie often wondered how she had managed to accomplish so much in regards to OWL years. So many classes, and it felt like so little time. She had taken a few too many classes, and she is still wondering whether she had too many in her schedule.

An innocent laugh escaped Cassie before she could stifle it, "Oh boy do I ever." Cassie said with a smile on her face. "I have two cousins my age actually, Sophie and Peony Flickwick." Nodding her head in confirmation of their names. "Plus there is Ruby and Emily Flickwick who just graduated last year." Cassie shrugged her shoulders not sure if that counted. "Also my baby bro Carver is twelve." Cassie didn't even begin to start going into her other cousins and relatives, she didn't want to overwhelm the girl with Flickwick history. Cassie knew not everyone had such a large extended family to contend with. "Do you?" Cassie figured it was polite to ask in return and wasn't this how you got to know someone better?

Juni shook her head, “No. Not that I know of.” She admitted, “I know I probably have some siblings on my dad’s side, but he lives in Portugal so if anything, they’d go to Durmstrang... I think.” She explained. Juni vaguely remembered her dad mentioning a sibling, but she couldn’t remember any details. It honestly wasn’t important to her.  “My mom’s a muggle, but I think her sister may have been a muggleborn. Mom had no idea my dad was a wizard until about this last summer.” She shook her head, “I honestly don’t know how you wouldn’t be able to tell. I mean, if your own sister was a witch…” She didn’t think it was particularly necessary for her to finish the sentence. Cassie was smart enough to follow. “I guess if my aunt had kids, they might go here. I don’t know my mom’s Scottish side of the family, just the Norwegian side.”

She took a bite of bread and covered her mouth when she spoke again. “Sorry I rambled. Simply put. No. I don’t have any family here that I know of.” She finished chewing and swallowed the bread, glancing over at the older girl. “It must be nice to be around family all the time.” Juni knew that she enjoyed her parents for the most part, and from what she had seen, cousins tended to be friends that you happened to be related to.

"Well that is neat," Cassie said with a nod. Though to be honest she could not imagine not knowing family and them being so far as say Portugal or Durmstrang. Cassie loved knowing her family was literally down the street. It just seemed strange to her to not know so much about ones family. Though of course she did not wish to insult Juni. "Well it is cool to start discovering things about your family right?" Cassie smiled at the girl. "Well maybe doing a family tree could be good, and investigate it?" Cassie suggested. She seemed to be interested in figuring it out so maybe that could be fun?

"And rambling is never a bad thing, for the record." Cassie grinned over at Juni and then went for some more bread. It was nice enjoying the last few moments of sun and good weather, and with good company. Cassie thought she should spend more time with the younger Ravenclaw, she seemed nice. "But I really do like being around my family all the time. And they are super close proximity outside of school too. I love it. Family has been a big thing for the entire family." She smirked. "And Peony, Sophie and I were all born so close together so it is like quasi-sisters."

Of course when she had said ‘Durmstrang’, that would have been completely wrong, as her father had gone to Beauxbatons. It was still possible, hell, she could have had siblings from all over. She didn’t know, and she trusted her dad when he said that he didn’t know. Chances were, she probably didn’t even have other siblings. “I’m not that interested, it’s not important to me.” She admitted. She would have liked to learn more about her heritage., but the prospect of looking for family seemed... Useless. They hadn’t been in her life for fourteen years, why should they start now?

“I like visiting my dad and my grandparents. My dad moved to London, so I might get to see him more.” She loved the idea of that; she did live in Scotland, but London was so much closer than Portugal was. He had traveled a lot, so that often meant he was further away than Juni would have liked. It also made it difficult for her to figure out where to send owls to. “I’m close to my dad. He tries to spoil me.” She smiled at that thought. She was secure in the thought that her father loved her and deeply cared about her. There was no doubt in her mind that he shouldn’t be trusted.

“So you grew up with... Two other girls?” Juni’s eyes widened. That sounded like there could have been a lot of drama. “Do you fight a lot?” She had heard that siblings argued, but being an only child, she never had that experience.